un: civil serpent | video.

[inferus]

( The video opens on the largest fissure in the Room of Seals, revealing the stairs that lead into the dark. Black eyes dart into view and then fade. The imagery shifts to the many other cracks filling the room. Wrath speaks, voice hard and ancient in the way of war: )

This version of Hell grows more restless by the hour. The dark water we've encountered before infects it. Every act of violence and rage, every death and spirit feed it further.

( Wrath's hand dips into the largest fissure. The dark liquid smoke pouring out of it wraps around his palm and the length of his arm. As if greeting an old, almost-familiar friend. He spreads his palm out and the smoke obeys, skittering back in through the crack.

The temperature in the room dips then. Ice pours from him across and within the fissure, sealing it. The ice continues to spread from his point of contact across the floor and walls, spilling into the hallway. The ground quakes as he pushes back against the power attempting to shove its way out.

The video then turns to Wrath: his gold eyes flash with anger, with violence that he pulls back within himself. His jaw locks as he surveys the room. )

...this will not hold long. These fissures will split the room open, but we may buy them time to replenish their forces and allow for more of their people to escape.

If you have magic or power, if you are capable of guarding and sending messages in the days to come, go to the Room of Seals. I will be waiting.

Comments

[somebadnews]

[ Five has see enough of what's going on in the towers to know that it's not helping whatever is creating the fissures down here. He's already done the math to get an estimate on the rate they're failing, but Wrath might have just delayed the inevitable. ]

Nice of them to listen when the fate of the world is at risk. [ Sincerely. His own family couldn't focus on the apocalypse for more than a few minutes at a time. At least he can count on Wrath. He just knows that he wouldn't be asking for help if he didn't need it. ]

Do you think they'll be enough?

[inferus]

It will not. We are buying time. The siege continuously feeds this Hell. It will break free.

( Wrath is confident enough of that, and of course, they have had this discussion already about what would happen - what happens in Wrath's world if the gates were to break in a similar fashion.

It's why he seeks to reassure that all is not lost simply because these seals would break: )

But this world will not end the moment the seals break and Hell spills forward. There will be time to act. ( And Wrath will be waiting. )

[somebadnews]

That's good to know. [ Genuinely. Five doesn't have firsthand knowledge of the future to go off of, and he's only been able to estimate a very rough timeline. How long they have until after it breaks is another story.

He could come up with some ideas of what to do then, but all of them have too great of risks associated with them. Things he wouldn't do unless he had no other option, so instead he turns to Wrath. ]

How can I help?

[inferus]

I will be focused on the work within the room. It would be helpful to have eyes outside of the room, to know who is near, to send messages if necessary, to retrieve supplies.

It's unclear how welcome our group will be here.

( But he does believe they will be more effective than the paladins have been on their own.

It just sadly changes nothing. )

[somebadnews]

[ His answer reminds him of the times when he was a kid, where they asked Klaus to be the lookout. Logically he knows that someone should guard the room, and there’s no one better who can blink in and out as needed, but it’s an unusually passive approach for him when facing an apocalypse.

Still, he agrees, largely because of who’s asking. ]

Alright. I can do that. [ He’d do more. What Wrath is doing is too important, and he’d murder anyone who tried to get between it if he suggested it. ]

Does anyone in our group seem likely to interrupt? I know we don’t agree on much, but I’d hope we’re all on the same page here.